Leaderboard

I felt like this deserved it's own thread. I believe @UNT86 broke down UAB's defensive scheme well, and during yesterday's coach/player pressers, Littrell & Ruder both confirmed what UNT86 was saying about their 5-man (sometimes 4) front. UAB played an ultra-conservative, base cover 2 defense, only rushing 3 or 4 on most plays with only 5 men in the box. This means NT should be able to run the ball effectively until UAB adjusts to the gains we're making in the run game & bring more hats into the box, which would open up the pass game some. 5 OL VS 3 DL & 2 LBs (so 1:1) should favor the big uglies almost every time. 4 WRs/TEs VS 6 DBs does NOT favor the passing game. I would expect the Offensive Line to be able to capitalize on this. We have some nice players on the OL, and Coach Bloesch showed last season he could get them coached up to be an effective unit. I don't know if NT put a lot of blocking scheme on tape for UAB to realize they could keep the run game in check with just their base D, but that's exactly what happened. So I wanted to look back specifically at the run game. Here's a 3-man front with 2 LBs, which was pretty much their base all night. I mean, Gabe Blair is gonna be a fantastic guard for us in the future, but here, he released from helping seal the Nose Tackle, and looked completely lost as to who he was supposed to block next, while his man (the Mike) plugged the hole and tackled Torrey for the loss. This was happening constantly, not just with Blair but all over the interior. These guys have to get off their original block and find the LB they're responsible for! WE HAVE TO BE ABLE TO RUN THE BALL AGAINST THAT FRONT. If you keep watching the next play, Blair gets firmly planted. I understand growing pains, but man, we're trying to win games. If he's not ready, find someone who is. Then, I know this was pass pro, but Great Googly Moogly, What the heck was our all-conference RT doing here? The entire OL moved at the snap, and he's taking a nap! Now, in the 3rd quarter with the game firmly in hand for UAB 😥, we see their 2nd-stringers (same base defense), and get 3 straight run plays. The first, looked to be a play off left Tackle. Brown seals it very well... so well, he prevents Blair from getting upfield to block the Mike. Pirtle comes over to pick up the OLB, but by the time he's there, both the OLB & Mike are there to meet him. I'm no mathematician, but 1 TE is gonna have a hard time blocking 2 LBs. Torrey goes nowhere. Then, a perfectly executed play where Brammer pulls & destroys a DB for a nice gain! Yeah!! ...Immediately followed by what looked like was supposed to be a run into the right B Gap. Carroll does a nice job sealing the guard, but Brammer can't get on the End, who crashes that gap (not necessarily Brammer's fault there, just a nice play by the End). Brown is pulling from the left side, looking to truck whatever LB is coming in that gap, but the play is already f'ed. Ragsdale adjusts into whatever daylight he can find inside, but if he bounced outside with Brown blocking the LB out there, he might have picked up 4-5 yds: I didn't want to watch much more. It's just demoralizing. I'm not sure how much of this was preparation by UAB (probably A LOT), and how much was just poor execution by our OL, but man, the OL has to do better.

Look how full that stadium was. 🤦🏼‍♂️😭 ”It will take more than winning” or “people only show up for big time opponents” NOT TRUE

AB got added to the COVID list and may miss the game this weekend. He is vaccinated so there is still a possibility he could play. Also Jaydon Mickens, the Bucs KR, suffered a hip injury last week and may miss the game. So looks like Darden may be making his debut.

Please post more.

I have read another thread talking about the QB situation. Both played poorly, but they were not the problem on Saturday. UAB played a 50 front, but with only one LB (usually in a 50 front there are two over the guards). They played a nose, a Mike linebacker, two 4I's (inside shades on the tackles), and wide 9's. In the secondary, they played man on your three splits up tight. They had two safeties deep to cover if one of the three corners got beat deep. They almost never got out of that alignment. The problem is that you should run at that front. We tried, but our OL was completely dominated by the front of UAB. The play calling was correct for what UAB was doing. You should not throw the ball to three WR being covered by 5 DB. You should run the ball against a light box, but it seemed they were getting clean keys and were reacting without any hesitation. Until we solve that issue, we will continue to see that front. Coaches watch film and you can bet we will continue to see that until we solve it.

Little bit lower.

There is no salvaging this season. Time to make a statement that with all of the resources and pay grade available, this type of mediocrity will no longer be tolerated. Hell, let Shanbour call plays the rest of the season for all I care. Littrell needs to be fired after this debacle.

Things have been in a downward spiral around here since this moment right here... and I'm afraid were about to reach rock bottom. It seems like Seth started losing control right here and its just gotten worse.

Less than that, really. Probably only 1-2 games per year, since we'll likely only play in Pacific time zone once, maybe twice per season. NT would play most of their games against Mountain Time teams (and if other Texas/Central time teams come, we'll have more Central time opponents). I just looked at Wyoming and UNM since some of y'all are saying Air Force & COSt are leaving to the AAC (highly doubt it) : Wyoming's kickoff times for Home games (all times CENTRAL): 3:00, 3:00, TBD, 2:30, 2:30, 2:00 UNM's kickoff times for Home games (all times CENTRAL): 7:00, 6:00, TBD, 6:00, 6:00, noon So essentially, our schedule would be the same.

I think to UNT86’s point….the coaches DID see what they were doing. It’s why they kept running it. It’s not like UAB had 8-9 in the box and we just kept smashing into it. If we can’t run against a D that appears to be loaded up to stop the pass….not sure what we can do. Say what we want about Littrell but he HAS run the ball effectively for the most part in his tenure here. Situationally maybe not but running the ball hasn’t been terrible. Maybe our players just aren’t good enough to compete with UAB. Which ultimately….is Littrell’s responsibility also.

Louisiana and academics is an oxymoron.

At this point I think we could expect a call from the WAC.

We need to be more than just 1 week better this time.

Good to see us get a transfer from Alabama.

It makes for a long night as a coach when you know what to do, but your players cannot execute the scheme. When the X's whip the O's, it is rough. It is another matter entirely if you know as a coach what to do, but you do not or have not installed that portion of the scheme into the offense. That can happen when you have a QB that does not go through Spring Ball. He may have never taken reps on the things you REALLY need to do. You can be handcuffed when that happens. What concerned me the most Saturday were the clean keys UAB was getting from our scheme. In the 80"s and 90's, false keys were rare. In today's game, they are a lot more normal. That I could see, UAB never got a bad key. If it were me, that is where I would start. It sucks as a defensive coach when you cannot get clean keys and tell you kids where they should be looking. It makes them slow and slow defenses give up points. The second place for me is more plays where I can read a defender instead of blocking him (think old school triple option). If I can get a double team at the point of attack and read a defender instead of blocking him, it helps. It also makes the defense slow down and play assignment football. It takes away from our disadvantage in athleticism. These kinds of plays are still available in 1-back schemes.

I prefer the idea of a regional conference, if the local egos allowed. That said, I have always preferred going West (mountain, not coastal) than East for most aspects of my life (travel, potential retirement, less concentrated populations, weather, common sense, etc). Has anyone ever proposed G5 football/basketball only conferences, and then doing regional Olympic sport conferences to localize rivalries and travel? Whatever income football/hoops generate would still help fund the other sports, but costs of the sports that generate less revenue would drop and maybe the football conference egos wouldn't be as worried about their Olympic sports, for instance, being associated with their "lessers." GMG

Great analysis. Thanks for sharing. The lack of preparation visible here is an indictment on the offensive coaching staff, and probably speaks to Bloesch having a hard time handling both OL coaching duties and OC duties.

I did. A very small group. They talked about the weather, deep snappers, punting, and National Equipment Managers Week. We need to get a week better, look in the mirror, it’s on the coaches, Skip Holtz does and incredible job…

I was there that day but UNLV was a crap opponent. One side almost 40,000 to the other side with about 200.

WB has exceeded any and all expectations I had of him during his tenure here. Not only did he make a home run hire in Grant Mac for hoops, but he’s overseen improvements to facilities, game day experiences, uniforms, outreach/marketing, etc. He is seriously one of the best people we could have doing his job. Whatever happens I trust he’ll make the right decision.

I barely remember that. Didn't annoy me.

I've been doing the rounds on various boards and the consensus is that maybe Air Force leaves, that they are at least considering it so they could be with Navy. CSU seems far away from a sure thing but maybe they go. That puts the other schools pretty far down the "No" category. I was reading the MW board and some were saying their tv deal is going to be renegotiated soon, with Boise giving up some of that money they are currently getting. From poster Ibanez: https://www.mwcboard.com/index.php?/topic/93183-should-the-mwc-try-to-land-unt-rice-utep-andor-utsa-first/&do=findComment&comment=2981796

Yep! More importantly about that day... and something I think drives the possibility of UNT-to-MWC more than the game itself... is that the President of UNLV at the time was Dr. Neal Smatresk. I don't know what his relationship was with the other MWC University Presidents at the time, but I doubt it was a poor one. I bet he can call around to his old friends and drum up support.

Go the McCasland Route, find an established coach who has won at multiple levels, we do not need another P5 retread looking for retirement $$$ nor do we need another spoiled P5 Assistant who does know how to adjust to losing a few games and has less amenities than their previous school.

Thanks, but don't clap too hard. I have had club seats since the get go but gave them up this year. At 78 both my night vision when traveling 35E and interest are waning, although I did purchase a "pick 3" package. We just don't seem to be getting anywhere, even with all the new bricks and sticks, and I am tired of all the lame excuses as to why. I would hope that Wren looks at a proven head coach with Texas ties, such as the one at Sam Houston who won the 1AA championship this year. However athletics seems to work on the buddy system so I am sure Wren has his sights set on someone he has worked with in the past.

You may be right. And if you are….that’s absolutely not good enough for what we should be trying to accomplish.

That would also mean, we have our 4th set of new coordinators in 2022. That’s insanely bad because the majority would’ve been labeled as fired…

I would assume we would be in separate divisions. We'd probably only play in Hawaii once every 8-10 years or so?

NT again is highly unlikely to terminate Littrell or for that matter any coach in season. That is not going to change no matter how many times the same topic is brought up on the board.

Full Game

It was really hard for me to see what was going on at that point in the game, what with all the bleeding from my eyes. As to the depth chart, I snuck into the coach's office last night and got the real one:

I mean, I understand what you are saying. But ultimately it doesn’t matter. This season is shot, and few (if any) on the current staff will return.

Let me take over. I’ll put everyone in plain black jerseys and show you mf’ers how it’s done!

I was curious about the name and found the answer here:

Is every P5 retread looking for retirement money? Is every P5 assistant doomed to fail when they get hired to a G5? These just seem like broad generalizations we are making because of singular failures in Denton. What if we're ruling out someone that could be a great fit for us?

Don't let closed-minded fans bring you down! Baker probably thinks more like you. Keep the search open to all candidates. Yeah, he'd be pricey too, but I bet he'd come back down here But bring Henson in, who's already a fantastic recruiter, bring Walsh back & let him walk into Guyer where he's a legend... watch the Denton-area recruiting blow up.

Screens are meant to back off pressure though. If the defense is continually sending 4/5 (or more) guys to rush the QB, you can back them off a little bit by hitting on a screen just behind that pressure. UAB was only sending 3-4 guys. You can't run a screen on that because there are too many LBs and DBs back there reading the play.

I doubt anyone leaves the MWC for the AAC, but read where Colorado State and AFC showed some level of interest. At the end of the day I think the AAC poaches from CUSA and the SBC, with UAB a given. New stadium, good program in both football and men's basketball, and decent sized market. I do think the the AAC will add 4 programs sooner rather than later.

Tyreke Davis is a baller and played D-1 , leather banging football against UAB. Love to watch a leader do his job !

I would love to be in the MWC. It helped turn TCU into a monster, and even though we'd be travelling further and playing later, the quality of teams would be so much better. There have multiple top 25 programs in the last 10 years and they have a rich basketball history. Even if they lost Boise it's still a much better conference overall than C-USA in my opinion. Couple that with the real possibility of adding regional basketball only schools like Gonzaga and we could be in a great spot. Better TV deals, more money, and better exposure. Basketball is already in the right spot, along with Olympic sports like Soccer/Volleyball/Track. We just need to can Littrell and get serious with football

I don’t mind the later night kickoffs, but Hawaii is a major turnoff

As for Skip Holtz....I thought I read something about the La Tech academic calendar and how it differs from most...and that gives La Tech some sort of advantage recruiting or compliance wise? Did I remember that correctly? Or am I drunk...

We need to hire Skip Holtz.

Bennett would seem like a no brainer but probably better to give someone else on the staff an opportunity at an extended interview. You never know what you might find. I would go with Cobbs. I get the total lack of experience but worst thing that could happen is he loses every game. Which we may do anyway.

If only we could get in touch with his high school running backs coach. 😁

If you have three receivers missing, then get the others ready to go! Make sure they and all the QB's are in sync with one another. It's a passing first-smoke-and-mirrors offense forgodsakes! EVERY receiver on your roster must be no more than half a step behind the starters in all their skill sets. There's ALWAYS receivers sitting on the bench just waiting for their chance.....or there should be. Casey Fitzgerald and Michael Lawrence come to mind. This year it is Burns, but he can't be the only one. If Ruder and Aune are not getting it done, then put in #3....and so on. That is a statement you make when you are a FIRST YEAR COACH and you are trying to get the teams attention. You are 6 years into this job and this is not an acceptable statement.

A guy who has been a HC at a G5 and a P5....and has a career record of 147-38. He took the G5 to two top 10 rankings. He's now in broadcasting. He is a West Coast guy so he may not care to come to Texas.....but wouldn't you at least give him a call? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Petersen

God y'all are delusional. I hadn't logged on here for over a year or even looked on here in that time for this reason. You seriously think a guy coaching the number 16th ranked team will come to C-USA when he'll have $3-$4 million P5 offers at the end of the season if he keeps this up? Coastal Carolina's previous headcoach went 56-22 and had only 1 year of HC experience which was coaching the Omaha Knighthawks of the UFL where he went 1-3. He started at Coastal Carolina at 62 or 63 years old so he wasn't some young up-and-coming flashy hire either. The reality is, there is no magical criteria that will get you THE GUY. Some coaches are a hit and some aren't. You can't keep limiting criteria by saying we need a this guy or a that guy or a guy with prior HC experience who's no longer HC for a reason and expect to land the next Saban. We need to move on from SL and that is the only thing that needs to be set in stone. Who takes over needs to be wide open.